When Chris Steele took over the reins at Jet Set Men in August of 2007, he approached the Marina Pacific owners with a request: To completely overhaul the studio website. It was a bold move considering Jet Set had launched a new site just two months prior to Steele's arrival.
"The website they had, it was pretty. But I told them it will not convert, it's not going to bring any money in the door, it's not going to build up memberships," Steele says. "And they're nice enough guys that they said ‘OK, we'll trust your vision.' And they put the money behind me to do it."
And with the launch of the brand spanking new site this April - a drastic overhaul that has continued to improve each month with minor tweaks - the studio is officially ready to play with the big boys. The new site was designed with the goal of selling both DVDs and memberships, and it utilizes Flash and easy navigation tools to help surfers quickly find what they want. It has extensive model and movie scene information - and a smart search - that helps users get off fast, with video clips easily organized and ready to play. There's also a new blog that launched in July, and monthly live shows are performed and catalogued.
"It's got one of the most user-friendly designs ever. The Flash player is so nice," Steele says. "I think it's one of the most advanced designs out there. We did extensive research. When you're building it, you only have one shot to get it right. Our key focus was, how do we get people to the content faster? Because if you're just coming to watch the movies, you don't want to read about them. You can click any image to start playing - you really get to your content quicker."
The latest generation overlay Flash player allows viewers to quickly zip between scenes, and back to the website, putting outdated media players with clunky functionality to shame. Steele notes there are no more pop-ups or sedate graphics: The new site has bright, uncluttered graphics and clickable, easy-to-use filters and sort features. There is no longer a separate area for premium members-that content is delivered from the same platform, and the site features more than 125 scenes from 30-plus movies, in addition to videos from other Marina Pacific lines (Latin Heat, Raw Entry Club and Dolphin Entertainment).
The studio's popularity also has caught the attention of mainstream outlets, starting with MTV filming exclusive Aaron James for an episode of its documentary series True Life (titled "I Work in the Sex Industry") that aired earlier this year. "After AJ was on True Life, I was inundated with models," Steele says. "People who knew nothing about porn were calling me up because they saw AJ on MTV. I asked Jason Pitt - an 18-year-old who debuts in our upcoming release - how he discovered Jet Set. He said ‘I saw Aaron James on MTV.'"
At the same time James was being filmed at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in January, another television crew was following the entire Jet Set family. Showcase (the Canadian Showtime) shot the studio from June of 2007 to February of 2008. The station chronicled the filming of Jet Set hit On Fire! from conception through to the GAYVN Awards. The story will be one of five chronicled in the third season of the show Webdreams, a "docu-soap" that focuses on the adult industry. The show - which is currently not broadcast in the United States - will premiere in Toronto at the end of September and start airing its 13 episodes in October.
"AJ was a busy little boy in Vegas," Steele says. "He had two film crews fighting over him. It was weird, it was like Reality TV Show Central around here.... I just hope I don't look like an idiot. I know they've got some footage of me acting ridiculous."
Showcase even went to Buenos Aires to follow the filming of a Latin Heat movie, with the fourth feature directed by Chad Donovan on the way in November. Steele hopes the presence of some known American models will help garner more attention for the Jet Set line: He sent star Rod Daily down for the Missionary in Argentina shoot, and also added the line "Jet Set Men Presents a Latin Heat Production" to each title.
"Nobody really knew that it was tied to this company...and I felt that putting some names in that line would help boost some interest in it, because it's tough when you go overseas and you shoot models no one's ever heard of. It's hard to get anyone to turn their head," Steele says. "We changed the positioning of it because with that line, the previous titles were a little bit all over the board until I got Chad and we decided to re-focus the brand strictly on Latin guys with really beautiful bodies."
That same formula (minus the Latin focus) has helped Jet Set Men's films continue to shine, including recent hits Jock Tease, Hung Country for Young Men and Ass Cruisin'. Also upcoming is an all-sex poolside movie and Muscle Mountain, the directorial debut of Jet Set director of marketing John M. Tegan. And with new exclusives on the way, it's all helping the studio strengthen its identity and industry standing.
"The new website has a lot to do with the perception that people have of the company, and that was the other problem with the old website: We looked like a small studio. We no longer look like that," Steele says. "We've made leaps and bounds with Jet Set...I'm staying focused on making quality movies with quality models. Our long-term goal right now is to continue doing what we're doing. It's working well."
CONTACT: JetSetMen.com; (818) 503-7741.
